Summary

The purpose of this study is to determine if treatment with a drug called fenofibrate, which
is a PPAR-alpha agonist and controls how the heart metabolizes fats, will reverse the
age-related decline in cardiac fat metabolism and mechanical function.

Additional Information

Official title

PET (Positron Emission Tomography) Detection of the Effects of Aging on the Human Heart (Aim #2 Effect of a PPAR-Alpha Agonist on the Age Related Changes in Myocardial Metabolism and Mechanical Function)

Principal investigator

Robert Gropler, MD

Description

In older Americans, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death and disability. It
has been shown recently that with aging the human heart exhibits a decline in myocardial
fatty acid utilization (MFAU) and oxidation (MFAO) and that these metabolic changes are
paralleled by a decline in mechanical function. It has also been shown that peroxisome
proliferator activated receptor alpha (PPAR-alpha) activates the expression of the genes
encoding enzymes involved in mitochondrial fatty acid transport and oxidation. There is both
indirect and direct evidence that PPAR-alpha-mediated responses decrease with age.
Consequently, we hypothesize that changes in fatty acid in the aging heart may be mediated,
at least in part, via a decline in PPAR-alpha-mediated responses. Thus, administration of a
PPAR-alpha agonist to older humans will result in a shift in cardiac fatty acid metabolism
to that more closely seen in younger humans and this shift will be paralleled by an
improvement in cardiac mechanical function.
To prove or disprove this hypothesis, we will determine, in aged and young healthy
volunteers, whether stimulation of PPAR-alpha using the partial agonist, fenofibrate, shifts
myocardial substrate utilization by increasing MFAU and MFAO, and whether these changes are
associated with an increase in left ventricular function. Study participants will have 4
clinic visits, each lasting approximately 5 hours.

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated in February 2009.

Information provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by National Institute on Aging (NIA).